366
WHOM THE GODS DESTROY
In spite of all the light shed by the great humanitarians such as Zola and Tolstoy on the subject of modern warfare the popular demand for heroism is as great as in mediaeval times. We read of iron crosses, Decorations of the Legion of Honor and all the inducements offered to those who braved death or plentifully inflicted it upon their fellowmen.
(With no desire to minimize the horrifying misfortunes of the Moloch of Annihilation, the following is offered as an illustration of military heroism). Much more than physical destruction matters the lasting and pernicious result of the war which stamps religion a lie, calls art a fraud, and scatters to the winds the established facts of social science. Ours are the days when to hold aloof from the hue and cry of the maddening crowds is an angelic virtue. No one ever realized how potent and all absorbing was the mob spirit dormant even in the minds of those who condemned it. The author of